RBC Alternative Orchestra
Friday 30 January 2026
The Bradshaw Hall
Conductor Daniele Rosina
Programme Notes
Conductor Daniele Rosina
Jo Nicolae
How To: Make a Chord
Anqi Qu
Where the Wind Carries No Name
Qinyu Yao
Four Seasons
Minghao Yuo
Zephyr
Max Knight
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams: An American Story 1776-1826
Programme Notes
Jo
Nicolae How To: Make a Chord
How to: Make a Chord is inspired by the many, many tutorials I have explored while trying to learn the basics of crocheting. Without someone there to teach you in person, many resources
Anqi Qu Where the Wind Carries No Name
This piece unfolds against the backdrop of mountain wildfire.
When natural disasters force us to bend to fate, when the animals of the forest flee through walls of flame, when the wildfire is extinguished by the wind...
Qinyu Yao Four Seasons
This piece is my exploration of the sights as well as the sounds of the four seasons. The chirping of birds and insects and the continuous drizzle in spring, the playfulness of people on the beach and the onslaught of rainstorms
Minghao Yuo Zephyr
Zephyr is a tone poem for Alternative Orchestra that paints with sound, seeking to capture the delicate poetry inherent in the wind. Rather than depicting the fury of a storm, the music focuses on evoking the wind's spirit, its
online are written in a confusing, unhelpful way that end up as strange looking messes. It's as much a celebration of free tutorials as well a means to vent my frustrations.
“When the wind passes, must our names be remembered?”
“No. It is enough that we once lived.”
in summer, the depression of the falling maple leaves in autumn, and the cold, biting winds in winter. I express my feelings about the seasons through the use of music and the special playing techniques of some instruments.
fluid motion, and its intangible form. It serves as both an homage to the beauty of nature and a metaphor: wind, invisible yet omnipresent, shapes all things without form.
Max Knight Thomas Jefferson and John Adams: An American Story 1776-1826
This piece is a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the USA by depicting the story of the 50 years between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two people who were friends despite their politics, with it slowly turning them into enemies. Eventually, they made up, but before they
could properly meet, they both died on 4 July, 1826, 200 years ago from today, and on the celebration of America’s independence, which was marked when they both signed the declaration of independence on 4 July, 1776.
Biographies
Daniele Rosina is a resident conductor and principal conducting tutor at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He regularly leads the Conservatoire’s ensembles and orchestras in concerts in the UK and has led them on tours in Europe and Asia. He is also principal conductor of the Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra. Daniele is currently Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Birmingham.
Daniele has conducted at some of the world’s most prestigious music festivals including the Beijing Modern Music Festival, Cheltenham Music Festival and the BBC Proms. In the theatre he has worked as assistant conductor for San Francisco Ballet both in the United States and on tour at the Edinburgh International Festival with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. A leading exponent of contemporary music, Daniele has conducted Birmingham Contemporary Music Group,
Jo Nicolae is a Romanian composer fascinated by the mix of Eastern European melodies and harmonies with Western classical genres. They desire to bridge the music that raised them with
Anqi Qu is a composer and performer. In 2018 she graduated from Shenyang Conservatory of Music with a first Bachelor’s degree in Guzheng Performance.
In 2022, she began her second undergraduate studies in Composition at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where she is currently in her third
Ensemble Court-Circuit and Orkest De Ereprijs and is principal conductor of Decibel Ensemble. He has worked with leading composers including Louis Andriessen, Howard Skempton Michael Finnissy and Richard Ayres. Daniele is co-artistic director of Birmingham’s CrossCurrents new music festival. He has recorded works for the NMC label, including Joe Cutler’s Akhmatova Fragments and many of his performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Daniele studied conducting at Birmingham Conservatoire with Edwin Roxburgh. He has reached the final stages of prestigious competitions including the Leeds Conductors Competition and the LSO Donatella Flick Conducting Competition and has participated in masterclasses with Colin Metters and Pierre Boulez. He recently assisted Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla with the Royal Gala opening of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
the wider audience found here. Besides musical writing, Jo is also passionate about narrative writing, and always looks for an excuse to combine the two.
year. In 2022, she worked as a guzheng performer for the BBC television series Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils. In 2023, she was invited by New Stages Creation to perform in a Sino–Western contemporary music concert alongside young musicians at Sands End Arts & Community Centre in London, focusing on cross-cultural musical exchange.
Qinyu Yao was born in 2002 in Xi'an, China. He is a young composer and conductor, studying composition and film scoring with Dr Benjamin Tassie and Neil Stamp for his Master in Composition at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. His repertoire encompasses orchestral and wind band, film and television scores, electronic and pop music. He has worked with RBC Brass Ensemble, Alternative Orchestra, and was selected to compose the Graduation Fanfare music for BCU in 2025.
Qinyu has studied piano and percussion
Minghao Yu is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Composition at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, under the supervision of Dr Benjamin Tassie. Having graduated from ShenYang Conservatoire, he studied successively under Zang Ting, Piao Ying, Chen Si and Liu Changyuan.
Max Knight is a composer who is currently studying at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Max has a fascination with moments of abstraction placed
since childhood and has won many awards. He has studied privately with Professor Bai Chao of the Xi'an Conservatory of Music and with Dr Qing Huang, a young composer. When he graduated from high school, he composed a graduation song for Xi'an Tie-yi High School, which was reported by the local TV station.
He has composed music for many media works and dance dramas and recorded his own portfolio with the China Chief Philharmonic Orchestra in 2024.
His current research focus is on the cross-cultural innovative application and creation that integrates traditional local musical vocabularies with modern Western compositional systems, and exploring a compositional approach that combines cultural distinctiveness with auditory appeal.
amongst each other with a connecting theme/motif. As such, he often composes music in that format.
RBC Alternative Orchestra
Piccolo/Flute
Benji Maybury
Laoise Bannon
Alto flute/Flute
Jiayue Wang
Clarinet
Fenghao Zhang
E flat clarinet
Izzy Wilkinson
Bass clarinet
Lindsay Hosley
Soprano saxophone
Ben Baldwin
Alto saxophone
Evie Cooper
Tenor Saxophone
Kara Woods
Baritone saxophone
Lily King
Trumpet
Montgomery Clark
Abby Brown
Corey Kohut
Trombone
Isaac Bousfield
Alex Holford
Euphonium
Skye Brown
Percussion
Nathan Burt
Piano/Celeste
Yu-Chi Chang
Toby Baker
Birmingham New Music
Enjoy premieres by RBC composers exploring new ways of thinking about music, whether that is creating original fusions of musical genres, combining live and electronic instruments, or bringing new musical styles to life.
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The Lab
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